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cover for fruit protection Articles

Paul Roberts, co-founder and partner of Ashdown Nursery, established nearly 30 years ago, grows approximately 160,000 strawberry plants for co-operative, Berry Gardens, in greenhouses covering 1.6 hectares. “This year, we’ve had to deal with a significant increase in the number of spidermite, thrips and whitefly,” explains Mr Roberts. “Over the years, I have used a ...

Company: Summerhill Road Vineyard Location: Bungendore, Australia Product: Agrilaser Autonomic Reason: Grape damage due to birds In use since: March 2016 Situation before The Summerhill Road vineyard, located within the Canberra Wine District of Australia, grows grapes for the ...

Climate changes, as one of the biggest threats to a global food security, highly influence natural resources that are essential for crop production. Farming is not only affected by the impact of climate changes, but it’s also a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Intensive farm practices that include both farm production and change of land use, directly affect the ...

There are a variety of corrosion resistant options for enclosed composting facilities, where the harsh environment shows no mercy to exposed metal surfaces. MOISTURE is no stranger in Canada's Maritime provinces, so when the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission (FRSWC) in Saint John, New Bruns-wick embarked on a composting program, putting the operation indoors was a practical choice. The ...

As demand for African and Asian tree-based superfoods grows, researchers and entrepreneurs eye ways to maximize benefits for the environment. It can seem like new health food fads pop up every week — fads that often fade as quickly as they appear. Two gaining steam lately, though, may be worth a longer look: baobab and moringa. Traditional fare in parts of Africa (and for moringa, ...

"Kenya has a shortage of competent horticultural staff at institutional and commercial levels." "Horticulture is facing a crisis in the United Kingdom." "Is horticulture a withering field in the USA?" "Concerns over shortage of agriculture graduates In Australia." "Uganda's flower sector faces an imminent shortage of qualified managers and supervisors in flower ...

SEVERAL months ago, I started on a journey through the pages of Compost Science, beginning with the Spring, 1960 inaugural issue. I was confident that I could whip through the articles and news items in the several hundred issues of the magazine between 1960 and 2009, and be prepared to write this article for BioCycle’s 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition. Granted, there were interruptions, ...

In the period between the 1930s and 1992, farm bills generally instituted compensation policies that took the form of price supports. These policies were designed to manage the surplus production that resulted from centuries of developmental policies while allowing U.S. farmers the chance, with hard work and good management skills, to provide their family with a livelihood. Compensation policies ...

A new look at the complex picture of land use change suggests that when it comes to forests, we’re far from being out of the woods. It started, as many things do, with a rumor. In 2013 Matt Finer, a researcher with the Amazon Conservation Association, heard from locals that someone was cutting down rainforest deep in the Peruvian Amazon, far from prying eyes. So ...

Communities all over the Southeast are exploring program options to reach recycling goals set as high as 75 percent in some states. Many now have organics recycling — including food waste collection and composting — on their radar to increase existing recycling rates, especially once the capture of “low-hanging fruit” such as newspaper, plastic and aluminum, etc. is ...

Negligent handling of temperature sensitive goods can have fatal consequences. Of course it is advantageous to control temperatures, however temperature data loggers of the past were often bulky and unmanageable. Now there is a data logger which has been reduced to the size of a credit card. Goods are not always treated gently during transportation. Shipping businesses are increasingly under ...

BEFORE we made our first ton of compost, we had already talked to farmers to determine what they needed in a soil amendment,” says Roger Van Der Wende, Vice President, Supermarket Division, Community Recycling & Resource Recovery, Inc. (Community) in Sun Valley, California. Considering the fastidious navigation the company has done to advance in a previously uncharted realm of resource ...

IF YOU are considering some sort of enclosed vessel for composting food residuals, yard trimmings, biosolids, manure, animal mortalities or other waste streams, there is no shortage of options to consider. Domestic and international technology providers offer agitated and nonagitated enclosed systems, as well as rigid and nonrigid containment. Unlike some of the other equipment categories in ...

WHILE RECYCLING of paper and yard trimmings has grown rapidly in Ohio in the last 30 years - now up to 50 percent for paper and 62 percent for green materials - the recovery rate for food residuals is at less than three percent. To turn things around, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' (ODNR) Division of Recycling & Litter Prevention have ...

The various incarnations of the sustainable food movement need a science with which to approach a system as complex as food and farming. This story was co-published with Food Tank, a nonprofit organization focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. Thumb through U.S. newspapers any day in early 2015, and you could find stories on ...

AG CHOICE is an on-farm composting operation located in the scenic countryside of Andover, New Jersey. On the drive to tour their site, it was astounding just how much of New Jersey, our most densely populated state, is still rural. Jay and Jill Fischer operate the two-year-old facility, which is one of a kind in New Jersey. Jay also owns and operates a sawmill in the area, and it was while ...

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB DIVERTS FOOD WASTEThe National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, D.C. started diverting its pre and postconsumer food waste to composting in September. Working with EnviRelation, an organics hauler, NPC has achieved a 75 percent volume reduction in waste, filling one instead of four 16-cubic foot containers per day with trash. This is expected to equal two tons of food waste ...